Thread: EJOUIE's 2004 Comp G

The Impala had some rust come out of no where and was no longer structurally sound. I replaced it with this:



I then drove it to work and it nearly overheated. Overflow bottle had emptied so I filled that up and attempted to drive it home after work.

Made it maybe a mile before it overheated on the side of I85. Opened the hood to see it spitting coolant and hissing below the blower snout.

All the while I was driving it, I could not seem to adjust the seat to where it was comfotable to drive and my head wasn't hitting the roof.

So, I had a car that I had been questing after since I was 17 in my possesion. It proceeded to be uncomfortable and unreliable all in just 24hrs. Hopes and dreams deflated.

I had it towed to the apartment parking lot.

Things changed from there though. The wife decided to claim it as hers and began calling it Roseta as soon as she found out that I don't fit. Then when I told her about it being much much more of a project car than I thought, she just called it team building exercises and she was excited about this being something to do together.

Fast forward a couple nights and I snapped this:

LIM gasket being replaced.

Couple nights further and some trickery to make the apartment complex think its "in running condition"...



All that and still found a river of coolant forming under that car after it reached pressure. Taking it a shop sometime soon for this one.

I'm guessing coolant elbows blew apart?

It's either chunks of old plastic still in the LIM, or there's deep scratches in those elbow ports and it'll need some RTV and decent elbows with good o-rings. Also check the water pump, see if it has a leaky hole or if it blew the gasket.

Aside from that, it could be the timing cover gasket, hoses, radiator, and so on... If you know what the problem is, then all you need are tools and parts.

Might just be me, but I hate giving other people money for something I could do myself.

Its tough to trouble shoot and work on things in apartment parking lots. Some Managers are militant in there parking enforcement. You gota have a buddy that will let you borrow the driveway or garage for a 6 pack.

I agree with the post above I HATE paying a shop for anything.. I dont want anyone else touching my stuff.

Props to your wife for wanting to get her hands dirty and fix it up

The new leak is occuring below the heads on what appears to ve the back of the engine. The area around the snout is now just fine. Aluminum gaskets and elbows have solved that.

I was planning to take it to a shop anyways because I could not get the heater hoses off of the firewall. Clamp access is blocked by the master booster. Shop probably has a fancy tool to solve that problem.

The other issue is my lack of time to fix this. Work is going to be pulling long hours for a while. This crazy carpooling we have been doing since relying on 1 car needs to end. Especially since that car manages to have all of its coolant magically vanish last week(stranded on the road again) Pressure test confirmed that it wasn't a leak. Oil is fine and now seems to holding coolant just swell. I still dont trust it though.

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The wife was attempting to polish the headlights with toothpaste. Mixed results.

She isn't new to the 3800 madness. She was helping back when we were dating as I tackled a LIM gasket + radiator job on my old GP. Her smaller hands helped a lot.

As for the apartment complex nazis, I seem to have them beat. I will park the corolla in the exact same spot everyday. Most others do the same so little changes in the spaces around the car. Then its all a matter of occasioanlly turning the steering wheel so the wheels are in a different position.

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I have a kit on the shelf in the storage closet. She decided to try the toothpaste out of curiosity.

Roseta has only 76k miles on her. Also a florida gal with no rust.

Downside is that she was never garage kept and has a terrible failing tint job on her.

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If she likes getting her hands dirty, you can grab some 1500, 2000 and 2500 grit wet or dry sandpaper and have her go to town on them with a bucket of water and a towel... Then it's just plastic polish and a coating to top it off.

I used 50/50 mineral spirits and urethane, blue shop towel and wipe it on evenly. That'll protect them from clouding up for a nice long while, long enough to save up for some retros. lol

76k and no rust? I'd say that's worth the little bit of trouble the car is giving you now... I'd check the bottom of the throttle body for wetness, the rubber gasket can easily get pinched when re-installing since it's practically a big fancy o-ring.

I looked all over from the heads up for wetness. Found none. I was very surprised to see the coolant on the ground.

My working theory is a freeze plug, on the back side. Not something I currently can do myself.

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If you take the passenger side wheel off you can get a decent look at the back of the engine with a flashlight, confirm it.

Car is back and running without leaking coolant. They said the coolant temp sensor was loose. Confused as to how that caused the coolant steam to come from behind the engine, but it works. The hoses were also changed and maybe that did the trick. I could not get the heater hoses off myself.

Now to get it registered temporary so it can be driven enough to pass emissions. Then it's getting the tint fixed.

After that still have: front bald tire, abs sensor light, ancient struts, and possibly a fan controller.

Then preventative maintenace and interior fixes.

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What fixes do you need for the interior? I got plenty of info for 04 GPs... lol

HUD and trim plastic piece is cracked in several places. The 5 button plastic piece cracked as well. Seats are hard, probably GXP upgrade needed there.

CD changer doesn't work. Needs a detail and air freshener bomb bad.

Sunroof sticks, just like the drvers door latch.

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If you feel like renting one of those steam cleaners with the hose attachment, using that on the foam pads for the seats will soften them back up quite a bit, I soaked mine in the tub for a couple hours in some weird concoction my wife came up with, they came out looking pretty close to new, and felt like new foam. Then a shop-vac and electric blanket got them dried out overnight.

For the cracked pieces, JY spelunking is your best bet.

For the door latch, it might just need a bit of lube in the mechanism, unless the striker is messed up/out of place.

Update.

Got to spend some time on the car. A/C turned out to be the blower motor and the resistor. Blowing ice cubes on demand now.

Bald tire has been replaced. Viva 3 up front. Dunlop performance out back.

I also took it to the wash and
used their vacuum.


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i hate a dirty door jam lol.

car looks good glad its running well and blowing cold

Been awhile so I will update again.

Car has been up for sale for a while now. Runs like a top, even through the GA summer heat.

I did fix the HUD, only to have it fail (stuck up to high) again. All of the other fixes have stuck though. I need it to stay that way as it currently is the primary baby hauler as it's the wife's daily.

Selling it because I need to get something that I can fit into which then moves the wife to what I have been driving, the Enclave. Got my eyes on a 04 Regal for when this things sells.